Episcopalians are set to vote Wednesday on allowing religious weddings
for same-sex couples, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized
gay marriage nationwide.
In 2003, the denomination made the trailblazing move of electing the
first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Since then, many dioceses have
allowed their priests to perform civil same-sex weddings.
Still, the church hadn't changed its own laws on marriage.
The vote on gay marriage is expected around midday in Salt Lake City at the denomination's national assembly.
The proposal would eliminate gender-specific language from church laws
on marriage so religious weddings can also be performed for same-sex
couples. Clergy could decline to perform the ceremonies. Right now, each
bishop decides whether his or her priests may conduct gay marriages.
Among mainline Protestant groups, only the United Church of Christ and
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) allow same-sex weddings in all their
congregations. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows
individual congregations to decide on the ceremonies, and the United
Methodist Church bars gay marriage.
On the eve of the U.S. vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby,
spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, released a statement
expressing deep concern about the potential impact of changing the
definition of marriage in Episcopal church law.
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the Anglican Communion, an 80
million-member global fellowship of churches. Ties among Anglicans have
been strained since Episcopalians in 2003 elected Bishop Gene Robinson,
who lived openly with his male partner, to lead the Diocese of New Hampshire. Welby has been struggling to keep good relations among the churches.
Robinson, now retired, said he is breathless about how quickly the gay
rights movement has progressed since he was getting daily death threats
and forced to wear a bulletproof vest to his consecration 12 years ago.
Robinson said there was a carnival-like mood throughout the Episcopal
Church convention last week after the Supreme Court ruling. He said all
religions will be under more pressure now to get in lockstep with
society, driven by their own gay and lesbian parishioners who will want
to be given permission to marry within their faiths.
"Conservative churches are hemorrhaging young people because young
people today have gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender friends. They
know the things they are being told by their conservative churches are
just simply wrong," Robinson said. "In increasing numbers, they do not
want to belong to a church that condemns their friends that they know to
be wonderful people."
After the Supreme Court ruling last week, many theologically conservative churches, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mormon Church, renewed their opposition to gay marriage and said they will not host them in their churches.
The Episcopal Church has already made history during the convention,
electing its first African-American presiding bishop. On Saturday,
Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina was elected in a landslide.
Curry supports gay rights, speaking against North Carolina's 2012
constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage, which is now
invalid, and allowing same-sex church weddings in the North Carolina
diocese. In a news conference after his election Saturday, Curry said
the Supreme Court "affirmed the authenticity of love" by legalizing gay
marriage nationwide.
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McCombs reported from Salt Lake City. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.
